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Article: Files on Retarded Out of Reach; Advocates Frustrated by Lack of Cooperation From D.C. Superior Court
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- December 15, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Sixteen months after advocates for retarded District residents
sought access to D.C. Superior Court files--and four months after an
exasperated federal judge took the rare step of intervening on their
behalf--the local court has not complied.
The records are essential to hundreds of former residents of the
District's decrepit Forest Haven asylum. In a broken system of care,
defenders of the retarded want to know which of them have attorneys
and which do not, which ones are competently represented and which
are not.
Much of the information has always been within reach, in the file
rooms of Superior Court. But gaining access to the records has proved
impossible for advocates and now for a U.S. ...